Peteralan: at least you now know what you have to do 1/ make sure you are there in time to get on the darn airline 2/ make sure that at least 10 staff know that you will need extra time in boarding 3/ make those same 10 airline staff know that you have people in your group that are not mobile and need extra care and attention and early boarding.
Perhaps too if everyone did complain something would be done about the situation.
We silently praise an airline or anything else for that matter by using it again and again and being a paid up "member" of some loyalty programme but to sit back and shut up is no way to getting things changed. I am aiming these comments at Neil because as he would soon tell you that is why is will be voting the way he will in the upcoming election - its a matter of brickbats and bouquets.

Hi, Liz. I must be a bit dozey at the moment, as I'm having trouble grasping the connection with my voting intentions. I'll sleep on it, though.

Message: Peterlan. I flew with Jeststar a couple of weeks ago with 17yo son who needs crutches to walk. Had absolutely no problem at all. I hadn't warned them beforehand but as soon as we got to the check-in counter the girl said I will mark your tickets for pre-boarding. She told us to see the gate attendant as soon as we got to the gate which we did. When it was time to start boarding the gate attendant came and collected us and let us get on before everyone else. Had no problem coming home either. Would suggest that it is probably a good idea to let them know before you travel though and make sure you ask for pre-boarding if they don't mention it first. Hope it goes well.

It's OK Neil it was a bit too cryptic...sorry. What I meant to say is that we praise various businesses with repeat business and give them a boot if they are not up to scratch - the comparison there was in answer to you saying that: "One general observation I'd make is that I'm constantly running into people who'll "never fly (airline X) again" on the basis of one lousy experience. But you can have lousy experiences on every airline in the world." and " The other point worth making is that many more people will complain about a bad experience than take the trouble to praise a good one."
The praise comes in loyalty programmes and the like and repeat business. But I have over the years pointed out the best and the worst, say of Qantas, on this forum. But if people do not complain then the airline or business will never get the feedback that it needs to change what the public feel is not up to scratch.
The comparison then to the election was that we never praise a politician but we certainly give them the boot if they are not up to scratch at an election. We do, as does the media, all too often nit pick on their inadequacies. So it is not always that people give verbal bouquets about good service etc.
Now that I have re-read this is really is convoluted so I hope you didn't have trouble with your sleep Neil.

Hi,

I have no experience with Jetstar as it came into existence after ( or because) we departed Australia.

I am a big fan of Southwest. I fly frequently between Albuquerque and Oakland. It's 2 hours and 20 minutes non stop. This is the only non stop 2x daily in ea. direction

The alternative is fly on United to Denver and change planes to fly Denver to Oakland. This can take 4.5 hours.

With internet specials the roundtrip Southwest fare is $99. each way. If I decide at the last minute not to go, I get a credit for my ticket purchase that I can use for 12 months from the purchase date to fly anywhere Southwest flies. Every 5th flight gives me a free ticket good for a year systemwide.

And the only thing I give up is a reserved seat. (You can now even go online at 12:01 am of the day you fly and get a boarding pass that will get you into group A ( first 30 people on the plane))

I'm usually checking in (which you can now do with your credit card) about 55 miutes before flight which puts me in group B. You can always save a seat for a companion if they
don't check in with you.

My mother hates not having a seat assignment ( even though as am 81 yrear old senior citizen, she can always pre board and pick any seat on the plane!) So it takes 4.5 hours and a plane change ( usually at the opposite end of Denver Airport).

Frankly, I don't get it.

It sounds like Jetstar needs to hire some of us Southwest fans as consultants to work out the kinks.

I've been off line the past 2 weeks as I was out in California on one of those annoying free ticket Southwest likes to give out!

AndrewDavid

Thanks to everyone for their reassurance..I feel a little better now. Its good to know that someone might actually listen if one lets them know first! Thanks again.

Hi All,

I know this is not a Qantas thread but I thought I would just mention a quirk with the Qantas website and booking online. I recently had this experience and did not know about it so for everyone else in the same boat ( or plane ) as me. You cannot book online and fly the same day, the system will not allow it. Instead you will get a message saying that there are no flights available for the requested day. In fact there may be flights available but you have to ring and book the seats rather than use the online booking service.

Cheers

Paul_S

Hello All,

Well, I haven't flown Jetstar yet, and I haven't put any clients on them either (adopting that "wait and see" policy). :)

Regarding Southwest, and no seating assignment, etc..... a couple of things about airlines that you may not know:

Southwest's been in business for 32 years with this policy - they are also only one of THREE US airlines that have actually MADE MONEY in the past 2 years! Pretty much everyone else is in bankruptcy.

(Liz: if you want to read "horror stories" about how an airline is operated, go to www.untied.com, which is the UA site where travellers let off steam)

Living in CA, I fly SW quite a bit and have never encountered anyone who was rude, on the contrary, everyone has been very helpful. I absolutely LOVE "Airline", which is a US TV show about Southwest, showing rude passengers, drunk passengers, crazy passengers, as well as the lengths the employees go to (I can't think of many airlines or employees who would take a passenger's guide dog out onto the tarmac AND clean up after it)

It's set in Southwest's hubs - predominately in Chicago, Oakland, and Los Angeles. Should be required viewing for anyone who travels in my opinion!

There is pre-boarding on SW -- regarding the 30 min rule - which is that you have to be at the gate 30 minutes prior to the plane pushing away from the gate...(and that's where alot of the trouble begins - people arrive, the plane's still sitting there, waiting to take off). That's not unusual either. No doubt it is buried someone deep in that teeny tiny print, that no passenger ever reads,but yes, most airlines have that, and they can deny you boarding if they choose to (as in, you get there TWENTY minutes before boarding, and they've given your seat away to a stand-by passenger and the flight's pushed away from the gate and is waiting it's turn to take off).

And seating assignments...you can have them, but you know what? The airline can change them! And they do! I've had this happen, where I have picked seats, gone in to print out an itinerary 3 months later, and hello?? what happened? And of course you'll never know, because they will give you some vague excuse that makes no sense, or pass the buck to "person A", who's either unavailable or no longer with the company.

If you want to understand Airline Mentality (an oxymoran if there ever was one).... a couple of years ago I had clients flying on American from San Francisco to Montego Bay Jamaica. They had a stopover in JFK of about an hour. A month before they're ready to go I get a notice of a schedule change. AA's now put them on a flight that has a 4.5 hr layover in JFK. NO WAY! I check flights and find one that stops in Atlanta for 40 min....so I have to contact the Special Desk to have them change it and say, "nnooooo, you're not going to put my clients on a flight with a 4.5 hour layover when there's a better flight..." And you know the reasoning behind this: "well, that was the only flight that went thru JFK." Need I tell you that I nearly went through the phone at this rez agent as I tried to explain that the clients would just like to get to their destination as soon as possible and really don't give a rat's patootie about going thru JFK????

Ya know, you just can't teach common sense...people either have it or they don't.

Of course the one that will really send me over the edge (and it's happened) is when I would make my reservation, my ticket has the agency name printed out in the left hand corner, and they've messed something up and I'm standing in front of them at the gate when they say "oh, I'm sorry, your travel agent made a mistake." Oh really? You should see their face when I put my ID on the counter and inform them I AM the travel agent, and no, I didn't change my own seats so my husband's now 15 rows behind me stuck next to the bathrooms, thank you!

Ok, I've vented now and feel better! :)

Regards,

Melodie
Certified Aussie & Kiwi Specialist

I reckon Jetstar's PR people must be working almost 24/7 at the moment!
No sooner do they have a highly publicised "near miss" over Hamilton Island (Clearly not their fault- but it's still been "attributed" to them), THEN they have a real flight emergency (today)on the way to Mackay airport. Smoke apparently filling the cabin and 8 people suffering the consequences. With everyone else on board "out there" to tell the tale.

If you were launching a new airline like Jetstar- I reckon you'd almost be in the foetal position right now.
These things can happen to any airline-and regularly DO, but Jetstar's CEO's must have walked under a ladder or crossed the path of a black cat or something for all this to happen in their debut weeks! Their "parent airline" (Qantas) must be wondering what the hell the "kids" are up to. And Virgin must be clapping their hands.
Possum

And on top of all that the main union representing airline ground staff has been putting the boot into JetStar for alleged "sweatshop" conditions.

Thinking back to when I worked for Qantas (mediaeval times), I can't help observing that we have a neat paradox across many industries - as a generalisation, the more competition, the worse service. Of course, we're paying a lot less in real terms than the days when the industry was a virtual international cartel, and that's the issue. Relentless cost-cutting is the name of the game, and something's gotta give, especially when so many staff are insecure, overworked and unhappy.

Hey, Liz!

Did you know about the site where you can record your opinions based on your experiences with airlines? As new as the company is, there are already a few evaluations of Jetstar. Check this site: http://www.airlinequality.com/Forum/jetstar.htm

I haven't read up on the Air India, Aeroflot, or Indian Airlines pages yet, but I'll bet it will make entertaining reading!

Alan,

Aeroflot will always have a special place in aviation history as years ago, a pilot decided to let his young son have a go at the controls upon take off! :)

Regards,

Melodie

I have a few friends who used to claim that they had flown on the only aircraft with an "outside" toilet.

Allegedly, Air Marshall Islands had a plane that had a "porta-loo" in its Cargo Bay, requiring that passengers had to leave the passenger cabin to use it.

Don't think it ever effected passenger numbers - in that respect, it's good to be the only airline flying a route!

Fellow Frequent Fliers,

Mexicana is always an adventure. We were flying from Mexico City to Oaxaca a while back. The volcanoes enroute were putting on a show so we asked the stewardess when we boarded which side was the best view. She said she'd ask the pilot after we took off. Much to our surprise she came back and escorted us into the cockpit. The pilot said he'd try to fly right over it. I guess another passenger asked what was going on so the pilot announced the best view was off to the right and evryone in the passenger compartment ( Boeing 737 size ) got up to look and the plane tilted over to the right (precipitously)!

On the way back to Mexico City from Puerto Escondido we were flying just above the clouds when I saw a volcano poking up to the East. I asked the stewardess if this was Popocatopetl. She called the pilot and the plane swung 90 degrees East so we could go over and look.

No outside toilet so everyone's lunch ended up on the floor!

fasten your seatbelts,

A/D

A friend flew on Aeroflot once and because he felt cold asked the flight attendant if he could have a blanket to put over his legs. She replied " Sorry, someone else is using it" !!

Hmmm! Perhaps I should rethink my position- there may be some benefit in having airlines that stick to some fairly rigid rules, and are well regulated. It's probably not a bad thing if the flight is the most boring part of the journey!

I use Ryanair between Dublin and the UK regularly. They too have a free-for-all policy. There are times when it's a God send. For example, when you get on the plane (after the kids) and you can see where they're sat and stay away from them. Nothing against kids on planes per se but I really don't want one screaming in my earhole all flight thank you especially on early or late flights.

Another advantage is that on empty flights you can give yourself a bit of space. BA and Aer Lingus appeared at one time to have a policy of filling up rows rather than giving people a bit more room. Ok I know the flights are short but is that any excuse to pack you into the first 2 rows?

It probably also saves time. People don't have to queue in the aisle to get to their seat. Most people seem to just sit in amy old row if there's a blockage. So I guess it proabbly decreases their turn around time slightly. Certainly Ryanair and Easyjet make a big play about turn around times.

These companies tend to be the cheap and not so cheerfuls of the industry. If you want allocated seats then you're going to have to pay a bit more. As to why they do it, simple, MONEY. They have to pay the the seat allocation software one way or another and maintain it etc so they're cuting costs and leaving a bit more money in your pocket.

As for the 30 minute curfew that has been mentioned, as long as there isn't a queue at the desk I'm all for it. The biggest issue with flights is the number of people who just expect the plane to wait for them. Flying out of Heathrow if you miss your slot you can end up stuck on the runway for 30 mins waiting for another one. If you can't get there 30 mins before a flight then book a later flight. On a busy day 30 mins can be only just enough to get from checkin to the gate with security etc.

If the statistics were analysed I would like to make a bet that the majority of flights are delayed because of the inconsiderate few who aren't at the gate in time and that has a knock on effect for the rest of the day on that plane.
People who can't manage to get to a gate when the doors are supposed to be shut should be left. But that's a different gripe.